Bracelets

"Why do you have so many bracelets?"

It was Victoria who asked. Not in a mean way, but Chris had immediately grown tense, staring at his tray. Where was Casey?

Oh right. He'd gone to the restroom, leaving Chris with his new friends.

"I just like them?" He replied, sounding flippant, if a little annoyed. Victoria seemed to grasp his annoyance and nodded, managing to look a little apologetic. Diana however didn't catch the hint.

"You know, now that I think about it, I've never actually seen you without a jacket either. What, are you emo or something?"

Emo . He hated that word. Chris wanted to leave, but if he did they'd know and that couldn't happen. If he looked bad, Casey would look bad, and Chris couldn't do that to him. Not after everything CJ went through to get these friends in the first place.

Shaking his head, Chris laughed awkwardly. "Uhh no? I just like my hoodie."

"But don't you ever like, wash it? Or get tired of wearing the same thing everyday?" She tacked on, sending Chris' nerves on edge.

But then a voice from above came, as said person slid back into their seat, next to Chris. "Hey, sorry. What're we talking about?"

"Nothing."

"Chris' jacket."

Chris glared at Rachelle who had spoken at the same time he did. Rachelle looked honestly confused at the glare, that Chris felt a little bad.

Casey grinned. "Oh yeah! It's cool, right? I helped with a few of the patches but he did most of them."

Chris flushed slightly. "Heh, yeah man, thanks again by the way. I'm gonna put the Zelda one you gave me last week on probably tonight. I just gotta find my stuff."

CJ continued on, dragging Avery and Rachelle into a story about when he'd almost caught his hair on fire with a clothes iron, but Chris wasn't really paying attention. He could still feel Diana's stare on him. And why was Lillian casting him worried glances every so often?

Chris sighed quietly, slumping back in his chair and bringing his hand to his stomach, to hold onto them. Today was going to be a long day apparently.

As the week passed, the questions apparently didn't stop.

"Hey can I borrow your bracelets? They'd look cute with this shirt."

"Can I draw on your arms? Great! Can you take the bracelets off first though, they're kind of in the way."

"Oh whoops, sorry about spilling soda on your jacket, haha. Better take it off."

Chris was slowly grinding his teeth down, and by the time Friday rolled around, he was ready to scream.

As Victoria approached him in the hallway, Diana by her side, Chris growled beneath his breath, slamming his locker closed with a bit too much force. As they slid up next to him, Chris could feel anxiety and irritation coiling tightly in his stomach.

"Hey, Chris!" Diana greeted in her falsely sweet voice.

"Chris!" Victoia added in a much more genuine tone, but it still dug beneath Chris' skin.

"What," he snapped, turning from his locker. Victoria looked at him in shock.

"I-i uh I was just saying hi?"

Chris rolled his eyes, keeping his quick pace.

"Aren't you a little hot in that?" Diana commented and Chris had to take a deep breath to keep from shouting. This was why he had one friend. Casey knew when to quit whatever the fuck she was doing.